Escape from Sobibor

Time 2.00 PM 27-Jul-2009 : We visited one of our friend's home and I had to go out with him to fix a damage in my Car. Dad, Meera, Aditya and Anjali had to stay back @ my friends home, and as an incentive (usual... :)) I had to order for Pizza's from Pizza Hut. Aditya loves visiting his home because he gets unrestricted access to his laptop to play NFS (and he loves cars....any game that is fast....adventures....). He plays NFS like no one else...even the inventor of the game doesn't play like this, even the NFS champ of the world can't compete with him. You know why??? he always goes in the opposite direction :).

Anyways - My friend is a hero for Aditya because of this freedom. At home this doesn't happen. There is time for everything and a lot of restrictions.

Time 5.00 PM : We returned back and it was time to go home. My friend said that he wanted to visit one of his cousins place to stay over that night. Aditya jumped up and said "Uncle can I come with you today?". We were extremely surprised by the fact that Aditya wanted to go out with someone else to stay over (he has never asked us before). But the motivations were very clear. He was looking for freedom...... freedom from me...freedom from his mom....freedom from Sundu Thatha...and freedom from last but not the least - his "little monster" sister!!!

The kind of expression that he gave was awesome....(remember the puss in Boots in Shrek) Meera and I were dumbstruck to see that he was terribly excited about the basic fact of going and staying with my friend. He was looking at us for an approval..... and decided that he will accept only a "Yes" and nothing else from us. We finally said "Ok" and there was celebration for some time. We even said "Aditya we might go to McDonalds tonight...." he promptly replied and said "Its Ok Pa....I'm fine with that" Wow....unbelievable, whats going on...my son says Ok to miss McDonalds. Meera was very happy that she can have some peaceful time at home (see sometimes it's required...I don't know how many times she says this whenever I go out...). She had so many plans...."Kannan take Anjali out for a walk and I want to sit and watch some TV today....its going to be very long since I got a chance like this..." I was anyhow prepared for this.

I called Aditya and asked him to behave nicely. Gave all kind of advises that my Dad gave me when I left home to stay in a hostel in Coimbatore way back in 1989. Suddenly I realized that I was overdoing this and said to myself that "Kannan...relax its only for a night..."

Time 8.00 PM : Meera was getting little restless....she said "I think I'm missing Aditya.....and do not know what he is doing there". She called my friend and the call was picked by a sweet voice...yes it was Aditya in the other end. Meera thought that Aditya would be missing her and would want to come back and there was another shock...when he said "Mom! we are having a little party here....I'm having Mushroom Soup and have ordered for a Cheese Uttappa...." (I promise that I'll write a lot about the love Cheese has over Aditya :))

Time 9.00 AM 28-Jun-2009 : We called Aditya (chose to call him at 9.00 expecting that he would be getting up late on a Sunday morning) we were pleasenly surprised to hear his very jubiliant voice (he was certainly playing some game in the computer or watching television). Meera was again disappointed to note that Aditya did not miss us.

Time 2.00 PM : The door bell rang and we all rushed to receive Aditya...Anjali was running ahead of me...and screaming "Aditya anna vanduttan" (Aditya has arrived). Meera opened the door and Aditya was standing there quite giving a bright grin. She went and hugged him (see they were meeting after 12 long hours). It felt as if Aditya was returning home after 4 years of hostel life. I was standing behind and he came and hugged me too. Then he said...."you know what Appa...both the uncles were very kind" (all of us know the reasons...) they took care of me very well, it was fun to be staying with them"... "I missed you all (a very little)"... "I did not get enough time to play all the games" "My eyes have not reddened and i'm perfectly fine" "I did not trouble them" etc., etc., etc., and also said "Appa...can I go their house every week?"

Note: As very responsible parents we think we are doing the best for our child ...by those little conditions...restrictions...for their wellness. But what does the child think?....only they can tell....for me the experience he had was like an "Escape from Sobibor" not permanantly but atleast for a day.

GoBechYou!!!!!

My son often gets lost in his thought process and that has put him (us too) in trouble many times. We always have to remind him that he should stop thinking and move on. Today morning he was sitting in the 'thinking pot' :)....guess what!! and you are right.....and as usual 'lost' in his thought process. I was standing next to him and harvesting the last night's growth (i meant shaving... :)) then suddenly he 'sneezed'. Immediately I said 'GoBechU' (@ our home we used to say this whenever kids sneeze and that has over a period of time become a standard word uttered whenever anybody sneezes anywhere, even in the New york city ha...ha...) I was expecting a 'thank you appa' as a reply from him and he dint say anything (he was thinking!!!). After a while I continued and said 'Aditya you should always thank others when they say 'God Bless you!' whenever you sneeze. He came back to normal (while still thinking about something....) after few seconds and said very reluctantly a 'Ok'. I continued and said 'Well! lets do this again....I'm going to say GoBechU and I wanted you to say 'Thank you' and said 'GoBechU' this time even louder. To my surprise (I thought I expected this) Aditya kept quite and started looking me as if nothing happened.

My temperment rose a little bit and asked 'How can you not say 'thank you' when I said 'GoBechU' even after that little lecture from me?'

He took a pause and quitely said 'I did not sneeze this time'

Oh! GoBechMe!!!!

Why SIEMENS is better than WIPRO

When I woke up my son Aditya on a Saturday morning he started the day with a question "Appa! do you know why Siemens is better than Wipro" (These questions are nothing new to me). Puzzled (and excited because I knew the answer!!) I started giving definitions like "Siemens is a very large corporate, global company, lacs of employees, billions of revenue, diversified industry etc.,"

He patiently listened and said "No....Appa"
I was really worried about my ability to answer a very simple question.
after a brief pause he continued...."Appa! those are not the real reasons..........The real reason is because Siemens makes lots of Trains (Earlier last year he had seen lot of Siemens made trains in Switzerland), that two Zurich Trains.....that two DOUBLE DECKER trains........but...but....Wipro makes only "DIAPERS".
I slowly started fainting.....

Moral of the Story

Date: 25-Sep-2008

I was loudly reading one of the stories written by Sudha Murthy to my seven year old son. The story goes like this,

"Sudha surprised to find a tribal boy named Hanumanthappa whose father earns less Rs. 40/- a day to have topped 8th in a state level examination and wanted to help him.  She had sent a letter to the boy asking him to come and meet her. She also sends some money to him so that he could visit her foundation wearing new clothes. The boy later shows at her office and after a little hesitation expresses his interests to join a nearby college and wanted Sudha to fund his education for approx Rs. 300/- a month. Sudha promptly sends him money for the next 6 months. To her surprise at the end of 6 months she recieves a cover with some currencies along with a letter. The boy had mentioned that he did not spend Rs. 600/- as for the last two months the college did not operate. Sudha was touched by this gesture and closes the story by saying that "honesty doesn't come from the rank, power or money but truly from the heart"

At the end of the story I'd asked my son whether he understood the storyline and asked him to tell the moral of the story. I was actually expecting him to talk about helping the poor and needy or on the aspect of simple expectations from the poor little boy and or about the honesty part.

My son looked through my eyes and said "Yes! I understood the story and in my understanding there where 5 letters exchanged between Sudha and Hanumanthappa"

Moral of the Story: "Though he behaves like an adult many times I've realized that my son is still a little boy"

Aditya's Wedding Plans

Date - 15-Aug-2008
Aditya's Age - 6 years and 11 months
Place - Singapore
Location - I was walking with Aditya towards my friends Home from Boon Lay MRT
What Happened?
Aditya: "Appa I have decided something very important?"
Me: "Did you decide? What is this all about?"
Aditya: "I'm not going to get married very soon!"
Me: "Whaaaaaaaat!!!!"
Stunned by this statement...i stopped walking and looked at him, he was very determined and confident about what he spoke
Me: "Why Aditya! Why did you decided something like this?"
Aditya: "I want to work for loong time, I want to visit various countries including Egypt, do some business and make lots of money!"
this was getting serious - i pinched my hand and wanted to understand whether this is coming from my "soon becoming 7 years old sons mouth" - He was right he really stunned me his wedding plans, this was really happening.
Me: "What happens if you really like someone Aditya - will you get married"
Aditya: thought for a while and "Yes Appa, may be I'll consider marrying then"
Moral of the Story:
Never discuss important matters when children are around particularly the active ones with their Antenna's open in every direction. He was actually overhearing my conversation with one of my friends couple of days ago when I was giving some advice on getting married at the age of 29. I'm going to be careful from now on!!!!